Gutter cleaning in Hyde, from the outlet down
Out here roof water goes to a soakaway or a ditch, not a sewer. We clear the run, then prove the pipe actually empties before we call it finished.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Out here the downpipe rarely joins a sewer. It goes into a soakaway, a ditch or a gully in the garden, and when the ground is already full that backs up and looks exactly like a blocked gutter from an upstairs window.
Which is why the first thing we do on a property in Hyde is find out where the water is supposed to end up. Somebody rings because a run is overflowing in every wet spell, and half the time the gutter above is reasonably clear and the trouble is at the bottom of the pipe rather than the top of it.
The visit covers the lot. Every run emptied by hand into a bag, the outlets picked clear, water put through each downpipe, and then a look at what happens where the pipe meets the ground. If it takes water we say so and move on. If it stands, or comes back up at the shoe, you have a different problem and a different price, and we would rather tell you that on the first visit than clear the gutter twice. The site visit and the written itemised quote are free.
The work
The run, the pipe, and where the water ends up
Three parts to it, and the last one is the part most people never get looked at.
Clearing the run. On the Forest edge the gutters fill with more than leaves. Oak leaf and holly go in through autumn, pine needles all year, and there is always moss washed down off the tiles behind it. Needles are the awkward part: they slip past a scoop, travel the whole length and pack solid at the outlet. So the run is emptied by hand into a bag where we can reach it safely, and by vacuum on a pole where the eaves sit over planting or a low roof.
Outlets, downpipes and the shoe. Every outlet is picked clear, then water goes in at the far end of each run and we watch it leave. A camera down a boxed pipe settles any argument about where a blockage really is. The shoe at the bottom matters as much as the outlet at the top, because a shoe silted level with the ground stops the pipe draining and the whole column stands full through the winter.
Where the water is meant to go. Most properties on this side of the Park drain roof water into a soakaway or a ditch rather than into a public system. That works well until the ground around it is saturated, at which point the soakaway has nowhere to send it and the pipe backs up. We lift a gully grate, run water, and tell you what we see. Sometimes the answer is a rodding job below ground; sometimes it is that the outfall is in the wrong place and needs moving away from the wall.
Repairs while we are there. A run that has lost its fall is re-hung to drain properly rather than left holding water. A weeping joint gets a new union seal. Brackets that have pulled out of soft timber are refixed into sound material, and a bowed length is replaced. All of it is priced separately from the clearing.
What it has already reached. Fascia, soffit and then brickwork or render, and after that damp on the inside face and staining on a ceiling below a valley. Green down a wall under one joint is the giveaway, and we photograph it.
How it runs
From your call to a written price
Same team from first visit to last, one person to ring, and no sub-contracting your work out to somebody you have never met. The quote is itemised, not a figure on the back of a card: access, the length of run, the number of outlets and downpipes, any repair, and where the debris goes on separate lines, so you can compare it properly against anyone else's.
Nothing is left open or unusable overnight. The site is swept at the end of each day rather than the end of the job, and what comes out leaves with us. If something turns up once we start that nobody could have seen, you get a photograph and a price before we carry on.
Clearing needs no permission and there is nothing for building control to sign off, though new or altered rainwater drainage does sit under Approved Document H, including where a downpipe discharges. Appearance is controlled here rather than maintenance: Hyde falls within the Western Escarpment conservation area and there are listed buildings through the parish, so on those, changing cast iron rainwater goods for plastic needs consent, and the National Park sets out what is protected. The New Forest National Park Authority is the planning authority.
Cost
What decides the price of a gutter clean
No rate per square metre, because a metre of gutter behind a conifer and a metre on an open gable are not the same metre.
Getting to it. A Forest edge cottage with trees directly over the eaves, a bungalow with a long rear run into a single gully, and a farmhouse with a valley between two pitches are three different set-ups before anybody starts. A bungalow run comes off a ladder or a pole, a three storey gable wants a tower, and a valley gutter between two roofs wants a proper platform. The work at height rules are why the access is a priced line rather than something absorbed into a rate.
What is in it, and how far it has travelled. Leaf litter lifts out in minutes. Moss washed off the tiles sets into a wet mat that has to be dug out, and silt in a long run behind a hedge is heavier and slower than anything a photograph shows. The number of outlets matters more than the length, because that is where it packs.
Whether it is a clean or a repair. A joint that drips once it is running again, a downpipe blocked at the shoe, a length of plastic that has sagged between brackets: none of that is clearing, and it is the part that decides whether you are booking an hour or half a day.
Comparing quotes? Ask whether the downpipes are being run through or just the gutter cleared, whether the outlets and hoppers are checked, whether it is a clear or a clear and a check for leaks, and who takes the debris away. Two quotes for the same job are usually two different jobs.
If it is overflowing now
Water coming over the gutter in heavy rain
Ring rather than use the form. Water running down a wall in a downpour soaks the brickwork and finds its way to a ceiling faster than most people expect, so a blocked outlet in a wet week goes to the front of the queue. We clear it, run water through to prove it, and tell you honestly if what you actually have is a broken joint rather than a blockage. Tell us if the gully or the ditch is standing full as well, because that is a different fault from a blocked gutter and it wants a different visit. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
No surface water sewer, so the ground has to take it
There is no surface water sewer to most of the properties out here, and that single fact changes how a gutter job should be judged. Roof water goes into a soakaway, into a ditch or onto the ground, and all three depend on the ground being able to take it. Through a wet winter it often cannot: the surface water risk across this part of the parish is high, and Huckles Brook is close enough to keep the water table up. You can check what the surface water risk is what the risk actually is for an address in a couple of minutes.
The practical result is that clearing the gutter is only half an answer. If the pipe cannot empty, the run will overflow again in the next wet fortnight and it will not be the fault of the person who cleared it. So ask for the downpipes to be proved through to the outfall rather than just flushed at the top, and get the shoe and the gully looked at in the same visit. Getting roof water away from the base of the wall matters more here than the state of the gutter above it.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Hyde, Frogham, Godshill, Fordingbridge and across towards Ringwood, broadly SP6, under the New Forest National Park Authority. You are dealing with Bournemouth Roofing & Building, the trading name of Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719, which you can look up in a minute. Thomas Hannen's business, and he is the one who comes out to price the job, not a salesman. A verified customer's 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. The visit and the written quote are both free.
Questions
Hyde questions we get asked
Our downpipe goes into the ground. How do you know it is clear?
By running water down it and watching what happens. If the level rises at the shoe, or water comes back up at the gully, the blockage is below ground rather than in the gutter. That is a different job and we will tell you rather than clear the run again.
The gutters are clean but it still overflows in wet weather. Why?
Almost always because the soakaway or ditch is full. Once the ground around it is saturated the pipe has nowhere to empty to, so the column stands and the gutter backs up. It looks identical from a window and it is a completely different fault.
The ditch along the lane is full. Does that affect us?
It can do directly. If your downpipe discharges into that ditch and the ditch is not running, the pipe has nowhere to empty and the gutter above it backs up. It is worth checking who is responsible for clearing it before spending money on the roof line.
Do we need consent for anything in the National Park?
Not to clear or repair. Consent applies to appearance and to protected fabric, so a listed building keeping its cast iron is the case that matters. We check the address before anything beyond maintenance is done.
Can you get to a cottage with trees right over the roof?
Usually, and it is worth doing more often than an open plot. Overhanging branches drop straight into the run, so those houses want an autumn visit as standard and often a second in spring. Where the eaves are tight against planting we work from a tower rather than force a ladder in.
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Get the run and the pipe proved together
Thomas comes out, clears every run, puts water through each downpipe to the outfall and sends a written itemised quote with anything below ground shown separately. Free.